Vandano Industries Test Kitchenhttps://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com
Vegetarian Cookery
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Curry Cashew Cream Gnocchi, Lentil Balls, Roasted Red Cabbage, Pickled Appleshttps://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/curry-cashew-cream-gnocchi-lentil-balls-roasted-red-cabbage-pickled-apples/
https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/curry-cashew-cream-gnocchi-lentil-balls-roasted-red-cabbage-pickled-apples/#commentsThu, 27 Apr 2017 23:59:48 +0000http://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/?p=539Continue reading Curry Cashew Cream Gnocchi, Lentil Balls, Roasted Red Cabbage, Pickled Apples]]>I didn’t much feel like cooking yesterday. Most of the day I had it in my head that I’d just run to the market and get a thing or two to incorporate into a super simple supper. But then, I also didn’t feel much like going to the market. Normal solution? Just work with what’s on hand. Keep it simple.

Things got out of hand pretty quick. Oh, we have some potatoes. How about gnocchi? Lentils…hmmm…lentil “meat” balls? Sure, let’s try that. Well, may as well dirty another dish, pickled apples sound yummy. And since you’re using every single stove burner, why not throw something in the oven?

It’s the latest in my irritating trend of doing too much with not enough time or space. Last Tuesday we had an after school event. Okay, taco Tuesday, easy enough. Except, instead of working from a kit for quick junk food tacos, let’s season and bake up some tofu, and marinate and sear some oyster mushrooms, and fresh red cabbage slaw sounds nice with that. And this week we had somewhere to be Monday evening, so let’s do pizza. Except, I’m going to make the dough. And sauce. And another sauce for the second pizza.

Back to last night. The kitchen was a disaster. I spent two hours cooking instead of taking a few minutes to zip over to the market. Homemade everything. Steam potatoes for gnocchi. Soak cashews for cream sauce. Cook lentils in broth. Boil the pickling stuff. The easiest part was throwing red cabbage in the oven for a roast.

Delicious? Yes. Worth repeating? Certainly. I’ll need to tinker a bit more before posting a recipe. I mean, c’mon guys, I haven’t even finished cleaning all the dishes yet.

Oh, and tonight we’re totally having quick and easy junk food tacos.

]]>https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/curry-cashew-cream-gnocchi-lentil-balls-roasted-red-cabbage-pickled-apples/feed/1P1080206vandanoIMG_20170426_18203320170426_164254Cook The Book: Coconut Tofu and Sour Beans with Cauliflower Grainshttps://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/cook-the-book-coconut-tofu-and-sour-beans-with-cauliflower-grains/
https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/cook-the-book-coconut-tofu-and-sour-beans-with-cauliflower-grains/#respondSat, 11 Mar 2017 21:45:03 +0000http://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/?p=428Continue reading Cook The Book: Coconut Tofu and Sour Beans with Cauliflower Grains]]>I’m really, really good at saving recipes. I copy and paste items from menus that look interesting. I save links from websites. I bookmark and make lists of recipes in cookbooks. I feel like I am overflowing with ideas of what to cook.

I’m not so good at sticking to a plan of what to cook when. After a week of not being home at dinner time, or eating something simple and quick to get to various school functions, I’m ready to spend some quality time with my knives and pans. I put the responsibility on a dear friend to choose if I should cook from a link, a restaurant menu, or a cookbook, and she picked book. Which works out great, because almost all my library cookbook holds came in at the same time and I have a huge stack to get through.

I settled on a recipe for Coconut Tofu, Sour Beans from Vegetarian Dinner Parties: 150 Meatless Meals Good Enough To Serve To Company by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. The tofu is poached in coconut milk and served atop hot and sour long beans. Every recipe comes with a sidebar of suggested menus, and I decided on their idea of a small plate of Cauliflower Grains, Cucumber, Parsley which is a lovely raw and zesty side dish for the sour and earthy tofu and bean dish.

These are super satisfying on their own and work really well together. Also, they didn’t elicit a negative response from the kids, which sometimes is all I need for a successful dinner. This book is filled with intriguing flavor combinations and creative pairings and I look forward to cooking more from it, be it a dinner party or a regular night with my favorite three people. And hey, if the dear friend I referenced above wants to fly across country, well that would just be great and I’ll totally feed her all the yummy food.

]]>https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/cook-the-book-coconut-tofu-and-sour-beans-with-cauliflower-grains/feed/0P1060926vandanoP1060926P1060959Arroz Amarillo con Seitan, Sikil Pak, Hearts of Palm “Ceviche”https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/arroz-amarillo-con-seitan-sikil-pak-hearts-of-palm-ceviche/
https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/arroz-amarillo-con-seitan-sikil-pak-hearts-of-palm-ceviche/#respondSat, 18 Feb 2017 18:40:49 +0000http://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/?p=378Continue reading Arroz Amarillo con Seitan, Sikil Pak, Hearts of Palm “Ceviche”]]>It’s not always easy to find a meal to please everyone in my family. Read: it’s downright impossible. When thinking about plant-based protein sources beyond legumes, the common big three are tofu, tempeh and seitan. The other night our dinner included tempeh, which is one of my favorites and the lowest on the list for child 1, child 2, and husband. Child 1 cried out “why can’t we have seitan?” I honestly could not remember the last time I served seitan. Back in our pre-kid years, husband and I would eat it fairly regularly- whether from pure enjoyment or how budget friendly it can be when you make it yourself, as I’ve been doing for over a decade. While it does come together fairly easy when you have the ingredients, it’s not convenient if you’re trying to throw together a last minute meal. Also, as I cook more for people who either require or embrace a gluten free diet this “wheat meat” has disappeared from my meal planning. But hey, the kids want it. Maybe we can get through a meal without a fight.

]]>https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/arroz-amarillo-con-seitan-sikil-pak-hearts-of-palm-ceviche/feed/0p1060670vandanoA Cascade Of Carrotshttps://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/a-cascade-of-carrots/
https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/a-cascade-of-carrots/#commentsWed, 21 Sep 2016 00:08:48 +0000http://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/?p=161Continue reading A Cascade Of Carrots]]>My family joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share this year. I’ve been enjoying my weekly visit to the farm (only 4 miles from my house!) and meeting the people that grow my food. I am also loving the abundance of vegetables and the challenges of cooking what you have, as opposed to shopping for a recipe.

One thing to note, if there’s a crop that’s doing particularly well, you’re going to get a lot of that item. For the past thirteen weeks, only one week’s pick up lacked carrots. Now, carrots are an incredibly versatile root vegetable and there are a million things you can do: raw snacking, pickles, side salads, soups, and of course, my favorite variety of cake. But when the carrots just keep coming, sometimes you need to look for new options. One of my go-to’s is this amazing carrot sofrito enchilada recipe, which I may post more about later. For more carrot goodness, see ideas below, and forthcoming, as this exercise made me think of lots of things!

Carrot Noodles

If you’re not familiar with using veggies in place of pasta, here’s a quick overview. You can use a vegetable or julienne peeler, or a spiral slicer. You can eat the “noodles” raw or cooked. I’ve always been a fan of a peanut sauce on vegetable noodles, but went with a lighter, Mediterranean flavor profile here. For the noodles above, I gave the spiraled carrots a quick boil, which helps puff them slightly and softens the crunch a bit. After draining, I tossed them with melted butter, capers, a little white wine, red pepper, and topped with toasted hazelnuts.

Macaroni and Carrot Sauce

I have fooled my children. A “cheesy” sauce containing no dairy, plenty of vitamin A, fiber, and some protein from the cashews. I tried this two ways and found it’s best served as a stovetop mac as opposed to baked, keeping it light and creamy.

Salt roasting carrots followed by a long marination can produce a lox-like carrot product that is truly wonderful. I was curious, what if the carrots were first roasted in nori sheets?

I’m going to test this some more and will update with any changes (and hopefully a more attractive roll), but the nori does in fact impart an ocean flavor to the carrots. Thinly slice carrots length wise, place in small oven dish and layer with nori and salt. Roast at 375° for about 30 minutes. Remove carrot slices from nori, rinse off any excess salt. Marinate in 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp soy, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 1 tbsp maple syrup overnight. Prepare your sushi rice, spread the rice and carrots, and roll.

Carrot Dog

Full disclosure: I’ve never liked hot dogs. It was always a disappointment as a kid to find that was what was being served at a friend’s birthday or family cookout. The smell, the texture, the taste, I found it all repellant. When I became a vegetarian in the early 1990s, there weren’t any meatless hot dog substitutes on the market. Imagine a new level of disappointment when those tasteless rubbery tubes did become available in supermarkets and every well meaning relative wanted to offer me a nifty vegetarian product to imitate what they were having. The only hope was to slather the veggie dog with condiments and try to choke it down. After a couple attempts, I decided to just say no. Those puppies aren’t going to fool anyone, and it wasn’t something I cared to simulate anyway. We’ve all heard horror stories about what’s really involved in hot dog production, and in 2015 Clear Labs published a report stating 10% of vegetarian products contain meat, including pork in a vegetarian hot dog. Yuck.

Enter the carrot dog. I’ve seen this making the rounds on the internet and in cookbooks, and honestly, it was another turn-off. Seemed like bland health food and another opportunity for omnivores to mock vegans. I had no interest. Then, I had so many carrots I didn’t know how to incorporate them all into meals. Okay, fine. I’ll try it. But I’m not going to like it.

4 carrots cut to bun length

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup water

2 tbsp tamari

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

2 dashes liquid smoke

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add carrots, cook until just fork tender, about 10 minutes.

Guys, I gotta say, I was wrong. This. Is. Amazing. There are many ways to dress a dog, I went with mustard, pickled red onions and pickled jalapeños. Served with maple baked beans, coleslaw, and salad completes a meal worthy of any summer party. I don’t know how to relate it to a meat hot dog, as it has been so long. It is far superior to any commercially prepared veggie dog, and no, it does not taste at all like a carrot simply thrown into a bun. My daughter insisted on having the leftovers for school lunch the following day, and was sad to find I did not have an endless supply on the ready. Time to marinate some more carrots!

It has recently become snuggle-up weather here in Portland, Oregon. Foggy when you wake up, steady drizzles of rain during the day, and darkness by dinnertime. I’ve been craving some warming fall comfort food, and this challenge provided the first opportunity of the season to pull the puff pastry out of the freezer. Just coming off a great (albeit not vegan) birthday dinner featuring a turnover served atop a butternut squash puree at Little Bird Bistro, I decided to make a squash and fennel turnover. Pressing crushed rosemary cooked popcorn into the pastry added an unexpected and delightful salty crunch, and the vinaigrette provides a nice balance of sweet and sour. I drizzled it over the turnovers, but you could also use it as a dipping sauce.

Heat oven to 425°. Peel butternut squash and dice. Mix with 1 TB oil on baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add a few cloves of garlic to the pan and roast until tender, about 30 minutes.

Make rosemary infused oil by cooking ½ cup olive oil and 5 sprigs fresh rosemary in a small pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Heat 1/3 cup 50/50 mix peanut oil and rosemary infused oil in dutch oven. Drop 2 kernels in to test temperature, when they pop, remove and add enough kernels to barely cover the bottom of the pan, about ½ cup.

Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface. Unfold the puff pastry on top and flatten creases with a rolling pin. Cut puff pastry into squares.

Press crushed popcorn into both sides of the pastry.

Place two spoonfuls of the filling in the middle of each square. Dampen the edges with soy milk and fold diagonally into a triangle. Press edges with fork to seal and make a vent hole in the top with a knife. Brush each turnover with soy milk.

Transfer to the baking sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

For the apricot vinaigrette, heat 2 tbsp apricot preserves in small pot over medium heat. Stir as it becomes more liquid, then add in 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar. Remove from heat and mix in 1 tbsp stone ground mustard.

Socca is a pancake or flatbread made from chickpea flour, and is a great vehicle for a savory meal. Here it is used as a base for swiss chard, butternut squash, and hollandaise. I cooked the swiss chard with apricot preserves and added in apple cider vinegar, which gives the greens a delicious balance of sweet and sour. Top that with the rosemary butternut squash and drizzle with tangy popcorn hollandaise for a savory brunch.

A few additional notes: I incorporated crushed popcorn into the chickpea pancakes, but I don’t feel it added much, so this could easily be skipped. The hollandaise is adapted from Ann Gentry’s Vegan Family Meals; I used popcorn instead of roasted corn. I made both recipes to compare, and was pleasantly surprised to find the popcorn version similarly very tasty!

Remove from heat, stir in 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, season with salt and pepper.

To serve, pile swiss chard on the socca, then the squash. Drizzle with hollandaise.

Here’s how I made the popcorn: Heat 1/3 cup peanut oil in a dutch oven. Drop 2 kernels in to test temperature, when they pop, remove and add enough kernels to barely cover the bottom of the pan, about ½ cup.

]]>https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/chopped-vegan-brunch-challenge-butternut-squash-and-swiss-chard-socca-with-popcorn-hollandaise/feed/0IMG_0156vandanoIMG_0156IMG_0123Natural Selection Challenge: Kabocha Squash Polentahttps://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/natural-selection-challenge-kabocha-squash-polenta/
https://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/natural-selection-challenge-kabocha-squash-polenta/#respondFri, 18 May 2012 03:45:01 +0000http://vandanoindustries.wordpress.com/?p=11Continue reading Natural Selection Challenge: Kabocha Squash Polenta]]>So…does anyone remember when I entered the world of food blogging in 2012? No? Could be because I started a dozen draft posts and only published three.

The intent of this intendedseries was to recreate one Natural Selection dish off each week’s changing menu. The idea was that I wouldn’t have tasted the dish, and would have nothing to go on but the menu description. I wouldn’t know if I came even close to what the chef intended. But I would know if it tasted good.

Funny story, I began this post on May 17, 2012, referencing a restaurant dish listed for the week of May 9, 2012. Off to a pretty good start. It is now September 5, 2016. I still have two other drafts for the Natural Selection challenge, and have saved many of the weekly menus with the intent of picking this up again. Maybe I will. But sadly, I will run out eventually, because Aaron Woo’s Portland plant based restaurant, Natural Selection, has since closed. Their menu offered two columns of prix fixe items. One side vegetarian, the other vegan. My original post encouraged you to go there with a friend and order everything off their amazing menu. I can surely steer you to other great restaurants, but if you didn’t have the good fortune to go already, you’ll have to just take my word that some of the nicest folks in town served truly wonderful fine dining creations highlighting plant based food.

NaturalSelection~ a restaurant built on vegetables, fruits and grains.

NOTE: Readers, please keep in mind that I am not a recipe writer. This is something I need to work on. Also, yes, pictured here is broccolette, not rapini. I remade the dish hoping to get a better photo than the one I had from four years ago, but rapini was not available. It is a yummy vegetable, but they are not the same thing. I also veered from my original recipe to make the romesco gluten free.

All measurements are approximate.

½ cup hazelnuts, chopped

1 red bell pepper

2 garlic cloves

1 tomato, roughly chopped

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 kabocha squash

1 tbsp berbere spice blend (recipe follows)

4 ½ cups vegetable or no-chicken broth

1 cup polenta

2 tbsp butter or substitute (optional)

1 bunch of asparagus

1 bunch of rapini

1 tsp tamari

Juice of ½ lemon

Hazelnut Romesco

Toast hazelnuts in a skillet over medium-high heat. They should be very lightly browned, be careful not to burn.

Roast 1 red bell pepper. Place in bowl and cover, or in paper bag, until cool enough to handle to peel the skin and remove seeds and stem.

1. If using the cardamom pods, open them with your fingers or the tip of a sharp paring knife and remove the seeds. I usually find it easiest to slice each pod horizontally, break open the pod and shake out the seeds. Discard the empty pods.

2. In a skillet over medium heat toast together the cardamom seeds, allspice berries (but not the ground allspice if using), coriander, cumin, fenugreek, peppercorns, and cloves for 2 to 2 ½ minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove seeds immediately when fragrant and fenugreek seeds have darkened slightly.

3. Grind the toasted spices with the ground paprika, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, salt and cinnamon in a coffee grinder as fine as you can make it. Store in a clean, dry glass jar and cover tightly. Keep in a dark, cool kitchen cabinet and use within 3 months for the best flavor.

Most of the meals I make are, or were at a time, based on a recipe I read someplace else. I adapt, based on what I have on hand or what I feel like at the time. I bought the ingredients for the Spicy Noodle Salad from Vegan Cooking for Carnivores, truly intending to make the recipe as written. Instead, I roughly followed the sauce recipe and the basic ingredients. The only thing that really makes this dish stand out over my usual soba or brown rice stir fry dinners is the inclusion of balsamic vinegar, which I would have never thought to try before reading the recipe. The rich and somewhat sweet flavor was a nice surprise and change of taste from the perhaps more traditional rice wine vinegar.